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Druid
Members of an ancient priesthood, druids commune with the spirits of nature and protect the common folk who live in harmony with the land. After being initiated in mysterious rites, a druid calls on the gods to wield the magic of the moon, the sun, the storm, the forest, and the beast. Sects Ashbound The Ashbound are an extreme druidic order, who consider all arcane and divine magic (outside of druidic magic) to be "unnatural". They seek to protect all wilderness and consider even common agriculture to be outside the natural balance. They prefer to avoid bloodshed, but the more severe elements within the order are not above terroristic attacks to make their point. Children of Winter The Children of Winter are the darkest of Exsterno's druidic traditions and seek to cleanse the land of the blight of civilization through death. They believe the end of the current age is at hand and often will endeavor to help it along, believing that the fittest will survive to repopulate in the new spring that is to follow the coming winter. The Ashlands are evidence of the coming end in the minds of the Children of Winter. Gatekeepers The Gatekeepers are a druidic sect dedicated to keeping Exsterno free of "unnatural" external influences, and this order has battled extraplanar invasions and aberrations for centuries. The Gatekeepers are the oldest druidic tradition on the continent of Exsterno, having descended from the followers of Kaaravv, a great Primordial that taught orcs in the Shadow Marches the secrets to the natural world nearly 4,000 years ago. It was centuries later that the Gatekeepers had their first real test and had to fight to stop the daelkyr invasion. Gatekeepers seek to defend nature against aberrations, outsiders, undead and other unnatural horrors. While diminished in size, the order remains vigilant and maintains a relatively friendly relationship with the Wardens of the Wood, the largest druidic order on Exsterno. Greensingers The Greensingers are a druidic sect native to the Kinglands. Keeping in spirit with the fey they revere, the sect is chaotic and worships by reveling and dancing in the wild woods. Mask Weavers The Mask Weavers are druids of the halfling tribes of the Tira Plains. Their duties, besides the typical healing, primarily include helping the warriors of their tribe craft a spirit mask which will allow the warrior when he dies to be reunited with the spirit of his mount. The Mask Weavers also serve as the historians of their tribe, preserving via oral traditions the beliefs, memories and songs of their people. The Mask Weavers are not in truth an order in the traditional sense, and their loyalties lie with their individual tribes more than with each other. However, it is a druidic tradition native to southwestern Exsterno and its peoples. Moonspeakers Bound to the magic of their lycanthrope ancestors, moonspeakers breathe the magic of the world, guided by the two moons of Exsterno. Moonspeakers are powerful and versatile spellcasters, and they weave their magic into their own bodies as they extend and enhance their shifting ability. Leaving behind the ties of family and home, moonspeakers travel between shifter communities, teaching, guiding, and protecting. Often among the most powerful shifter spellcasters, moonspeakers serve as the champions and advisors of the shifter race. With little in the way of organized religion and racial penalties to Intelligence and Charisma, shifters tend not to produce as many potent spellcasters as many other races. The shifters thus look to the moonspeakers to give their communities access to levels of magic more traditionally associated with wizards and sorcerers, as well as access to the creation of magic items. The moonspeaker prestige class also provides a means of introducing variety among shifter PCs, encouraging spellcasting character concepts for a race typically characterized by its physical prowess and abilities. Wardens of the Wood The largest and most influential of the druidic sects of Exsterno is the Wardens of the Wood. The Wardens are primarily human but include other races. After the Aurora Conquest and the founding of the Council of Five , the Wardens became the de facto governing body of the Kinglands after the Fallfays become rulers of the region. The Wardens rallied the people to defend their lands against bandit raiders and foreign nations with designs on their abundant woodlands and plains. The Wardens are respected and well-liked thoughout the Kinglands. The Order seeks to maintain a balance between civilization and nature, and is in many ways the most liberal of the druidic sects. They have no problem with agriculture or animal husbandry as long as the land and its creatures are not ill-treated or abused. And they often work with farmers and ranchers to help them prosper while maintaining a proper balance with nature.